Wednesday, 17 September 2014

Landry Park (Landry Park #1) by Bethany Hagen

Blurb (from Goodreads):

Downton Abbey meets The Selection in this dystopian tale of love and betrayal

In
a fragmented future United States ruled by the lavish gentry,
seventeen-year-old Madeline Landry dreams of going to the university.
Unfortunately, gentry decorum and her domineering father won't allow
that. Madeline must marry, like a good Landry woman, and run the family
estate. But her world is turned upside down when she discovers the
devastating consequences her lifestyle is having on those less
fortunate. As Madeline begins to question everything she has ever
learned, she finds herself increasingly drawn to handsome, beguiling
David Dana. Soon, rumors of war and rebellion start to spread, and
Madeline finds herself and David at the center of it all. Ultimately,
she must make a choice between duty - her family and the estate she
loves dearly - and desire.

(Source: I own a copy of this book.)This was a different kind of dystopian story, with some interesting science thrown in.Madeline was an interesting character, and I did feel for her with her insistence that she wanted to go to university rather than to get married. It was an awful situation for her to be in, and her father’s insistence that he would force her to do as she was told and produce an heir was pretty bad.The storyline in this was quite interesting, with issues about nuclear power and caste systems. I felt sorry for the rootless, but I also felt like the world-building wasn’t very well explained, so I wasn’t sure what the heck these castes were about or why they were formed until the end of the book! There was some romance, but I wasn’t overly interested. We ended up with a love triangle, and one of the boys just seemed to be a bit of a flirt, and not really invested in having a relationship. It did get to the point where it seemed a bit silly that Madeline didn’t just tell him to make a choice or leave her alone, because he seemed to be with someone else, whilst Madeline still seemed to be holding out for him, which annoyed me a bit.The ending to this was quite interesting, and there were a couple of twists that I didn’t see coming. Things didn’t end quite how I expected them to, but I was satisfied with the way things ended.Overall; interesting dystopian story, with some science thrown in,6.75 out of 10.